


Rescue

by Hiiraeth (V_eritas)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Canon Divergence - Iron Man 3, Extremis Pepper Potts, Extremis Tony Stark, F/M, Mild Language, Pepper Potts as Rescue, Post-Iron Man 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 23:32:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15278631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/V_eritas/pseuds/Hiiraeth
Summary: In which Extremis is the only way out of a chest full of shrapnel and Pepper and Tony start taking the term "power couple" a little too seriously."So let me get this straight," Rhodey says, wearing an expression Tony hasn't seen since MIT, "You can get rid of the arc reactor and the shrapnel and the whole shebang, but only if you inject yourself with the toxic horror show that almost killed your girlfriend.""That about sums it up, yeah."





	Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> I caught the feelings, guys. It's literally been five years since IM3 so I'm hopelessly late, but I hope someone enjoys this anyway. It's my first time writing these characters so... Be nice?
> 
> This takes place immediately after Killian was defeated in IM3 but before the surgery, because frankly the canon mechanics of the arc reactor make zero sense.

The real problem with surgically removing the arc reactor is not, in fact, the shrapnel spearheading towards Tony's heart. Well, alright, that's _also_ a problem. The main issue, though, is the fact that the reactor's housing is the only thing keeping his chest's skeletal structure from collapsing.

Turns out sawing bits of the sternum away and replacing it with metal is kind of an irreversible deal. Sure, he could get it replaced with some kind of prosthetic but in his line of work? One good kick to the chest and... Well. A normal, healthy sternum heals. An artificial one does not.

"You do realize your entire argument hinges on you still being Iron Man after everything that's happened, right?" Pepper comments when he explains the whole deal early one morning, her hair still ruffled from sleep.

He grimaces, shrugs awkwardly, because it's not what he promised when he instigated the clean slate protocol. "Ah, well..."

Pepper silences him by placing her finger over his lips. "I can do back flips now," she says. "And last night, I bit through my fork without even trying. And that's with the stabilized version of Extremis. If there is a way for me to use it more productively than just destroying innocent kitchen utensils and making you bite the dust in a sparring session, I've been thinking maybe I should take it."

Tony's heart skips a beat. "Pep. Pepper. Are you for real? I thought –"

She looks up at the ceiling – or rolls her eyes, maybe – but she's smiling, just a little. "I'm not going to turn into an Avenger. That's not my shtick. But if I can help people with this… Well, no, it's not a _gift_ , but it's _something_ , and even if I'd rather it wasn't there, it is. I've been turned into a superhero, God help me. Who am I to not use it for good in some way?" And oh, she's reaching out, brushes his cheek with her hand (always just a little bit warmer than they used to be, now).

"You found out you could help people," she goes on. "To not do so feels like a betrayal. I'm starting to get that. And if we can get rid of that thing?" She taps the reactor and he feels it reverberate through his chest. "All the better. I'd prefer my boyfriend not to have an on and off switch in his chest."

Tony shivers, but the ghost feeling of Obie's machine pulling out his heart stays away for once. "So you're saying yes," he says, disbelieving.

Pepper smiles and leans in for a kiss. "I'm saying yes."

* * *

 

Okay, so part of the reason she agreed is probably because she knows Tony would have continued to be Iron Man anyway, suits or no suits, because being your company's tech guy can only keep his mind occupied for so long, and with the stabilized Extremis he might at least stand a slightly better chance of not, well, being evaporated or something.

Tony knows this, and is ridiculously, hopelessly, pathetically relieved that she's not walking away from him for it. But he catches her in the gym one morning, eyeing one of the larger weights speculatively before she lifts it with such ridiculous ease she'd have impressed Cap, that he thinks it would have gone very differently if Extremis didn't still rage through her veins.

She would have left, perhaps, because of yet another broken promise.

* * *

 

"So let me get this straight," Rhodey says, wearing an expression Tony hasn't seen since MIT, "You can get rid of the arc reactor and the shrapnel and the whole shebang, but only if you inject yourself with the toxic horror show that almost killed your girlfriend."

"That about sums it up, yeah."

"The toxic horror show that used to blow people up."

"Key word being 'used to'."

" _Tones_."

"Honeybear. No, you know what? No. I've earned this. I – I've got an opportunity here, Rhodey. I've got the opportunity to not walk around with metal in my chest 24/7. I've got an opportunity to not have to worry about the _actual fucking battery in my chest_ running out and leaving me to die," Tony says, hands in his hair, and well, if that contributes to the whole mad scientist look, so be it. "SHIELD will back me. You know Fury loves me."

"Tolerates, maybe. Wait, why are you calling on him like he's our mother, or something? What are you even – Look, I know you're scared, so am I – I was there when you came back home, remember? I've seen your medical files. But you also know this Extremis thing won't just heal you up post-surgery. It'll... It'll give you powers, or something. Like a much crazier version of Cap. Jesus, that's a scary thought. And it's a hell of a commitment."

"A commitment I made a long time ago."

"Right, yeah. You're... You're Iron Man. You're an avenger." Rhodey's eyes flick down and he brings his hand to his mouth. "You're going to do it no matter what I say, aren't you?"

Tony drops his head. "... Yeah. Sorry buddy. I wanted there to be at least the illusion of a mature adult discussion on whether it was a good idea."

"Well," Rhodey says, his smile equally exasperated and fond, "I guess that's some kind of progress."

* * *

 

Pepper and Rhodey are both there when he injects Extremis into his veins, and he can tell they're relieved when he says that while the process is lengthy, it is not, in fact, particularly painful or even dangerous. It's just a light fever, for roughly 24 hours, and some sore muscles. A hell of a lot easier than what Pepper was put through.

All right, so maybe Tony sneaks in a few extra painkillers when they're not watching because, fine, it's a bit more painful than he anticipated, but mostly he's happy to stay on the couch where they've parked him, bundled up in blankets and watching all the _Lethal Weapon_ movies in one go with Rhodey by his side. Then they watch _Rush Hour_ , and just as Tony wants to argue that clearly, he would be the Jackie Chan in that situation, not Chris Tucker's chatterbox character, don't look so skeptical honey bear, just because you're ridiculously competent it doesn't mean I'm that hopeless without the suit, he falls asleep.

Oh well. Rhodey wouldn't have bought it, anyway. Tony isn't sure he believed it himself, either.  Rhodey is a proper badass. Saved the president, and everything. Tony had just managed not to get himself killed. Just.

* * *

 

The surgery comes next, and boy, is Tony tired of sitting around and not doing anything. The surgery last for hours and requires a lot of complicated hoop jumping from the doctors (who are, of course, the best in their field). The stable version of Extremis comes with a much slower healing rate than the explosive original, but it's still a lot faster than the doctors are used to. They have to make sure he doesn't bleed out when his chest cavity starts regenerating after they take the arc reactor's housing out.

It's a real doozy, and when he finally wakes up in his room Pepper has tears in her eyes and won't stop kissing his hand. Rhodey gives him his best 'look how manly I am and how obviously confident I was of your full recovery' smiles that wobbles at the corners, the one he patented shortly after Afghanistan, so Tony grins and grins and grins.

* * *

 

The funny thing is that his and Pepper's bodies respond differently to the virus. Pepper is fast and strong and runs hot when she's angry, and although they haven't tested it they're pretty sure her healing rate is faster than his, too. Tony becomes faster too, his joints less achy with wear and tear and his muscles ridiculously suitable to acrobatics, but he's not as strong. 

Then one morning, he thinks about calling Romanoff to ask for training help and hears the dial go off inside his skull.

"Stark. What's wrong?" Natasha says, on the other side of the city.

Tony blinks and stares at his phone, which is lying on his desk several feet away, the screen still black. "Uhhhhh."

"Intelligible as always, Tony."

* * *

 

Tony decides to call it technomancy, because that sounds cool and also a lot better than 'I can use phones with my head'. Pepper just stares at him when he tells her and nods to herself a few times, her lips thinning. "So I guess we're not going to get any rest anytime soon, are we?" She says, and she's utterly right.

He learns how to hack computers without any kind of interface two weeks in. It's pretty damn sweet.

"The biggest challenge," Natasha says, when she's come over to train them both, "is convincing you not to tell the whole damn world about your newfound abilities."

He manages not to blab about it in his next press conference. It almost costs him a coronary.

* * *

 

"I want a suit," Pepper says one day, and it's like all his wet dreams come true at once. Or, well, like Christmas has come early, anyway. "I want a suit, because if I'm going to be clearing up your messes, I don't want to be doing it in a catsuit."

Which, fair enough. No offense, Natasha. So, Tony builds his awesome girlfriend a suit.

It may or may not be the coolest thing he's ever done. He's so smug about the whole thing that Pepper makes him sleep on the couch for two nights, and he _still_ can't stop grinning.

* * *

 

"Well, we could definitely use a new member on the team," Steve Rogers says guilelessly, when he comes by a few days later. He claims it wasn't Natasha who told him, but neither of them believe him.

Pepper gives him a friendly smile, the one that's all polite business but really means, 'I would rather choke on an altoid than take you up on your offer'. She usually reserves it for Stark Industries meetings. "I'm still the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world," she says, "I'm not going to be a full-time superhero. Think of me as being on-call, for when you need an extra eye in the sky to help save civilians."

"I don't want to fight," she confesses later that night, braced against Tony's chest. "But I can help get people out of the way when you do."

Tony kisses her forehead and, when he finishes her suit, names it RESCUE.

* * *

 

(They do end up teaming up one day, when a hapless scientist manages to drop his mutagen experiment into his dinner – lobster with scallops – which results in the first ever case of giant carnivorous crustaceans infesting New York City. Pepper fries the giant lobster from the inside out and Tony programs every nearby CTV camera into being his eyes and ears so not a single scallop gets away. They don't even need the rest of the Avengers, and New York gets free seafood all week. It's a PR victory, and SI stocks go up at a ridiculous rate.)

* * *

 

"I'm still angry at Killian," Pepper tells him, her legs dangling from the cliff that once held their home, "But I no longer hate Extremis."

Tony is sitting next to her, arm bumping into hers, and he kisses her shoulder. "I stopped hating Extremis," he says, "when it saved you from falling. And I can't start now, not when it means we can have this, after everything."

There's no metal in his chest anymore, and Pepper is deliciously, delightfully alive. She smiles at him and they kiss, and for a moment they're not Iron Man and Rescue, they're just Tony and Pepper, enjoying the sunset.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I mean, if you have the opportunity to get life-threatening shrapnel out of your chest in exchange for superpowers when you're already a superhero, wouldn't you take it? Also, I very much feel like Pepper would have been more understanding of Tony's choice to remain Iron Man after experiencing Extremis' power. To quote uncle Ben, with great power…
> 
> I'm open to prompts set in this 'verse if anyone is interested.


End file.
